I think we should have more manual curation, and I think post authors should curate thoughtful comments they receive.
Many times, comments are very generic and, even if entered by hand, tend to be generic such as "nice post" or "great composition". I don't think these generic comments have great value, yet I see people rewarding themselves for making them (or worse using an alt account to reward themselves so they look like they were upvoted by someone else).
It is very difficult as a content creator to build a following of people who have time and willingness to read and engage with posts. For this reason I think tools like curation trails can be helpful. What I dislike about the trails is, while authors are financially rewarded, low engagement leads to mediocre quality.
All things considered, the advice I give people is read what you love, upvote and comment on it. Write what you love and the people you read will come upvote and comment on your work. It's a hard road, but I think it will ultimately be rewarded.
I know exactly what you are talking about with the "nice post" comments and they can get pretty annoying. I think you give some great advice about reading what you love and commenting on it. I tend to vote and comment on things I like and topics that are hot and I want to have my voice heard with. I really do like the way eric-boucher handles content curation and this can very much apply to any topic you like reading about.
I haven't seen eric's approach. I will have to look more into that.